HIDDEN TREASURE

In response to the controversy the 19-year-old has defended her actions, saying: “My dad spends most of his time working in Africa. How could I be racist?”

Schotte claims she was using the emoji as a smiley face or a symbol for “chocolate ice cream.”

She believes the media are trying to destroy her pageant success, adding: “If a white man had been sitting behind me, I had just posted the same…I should have thought better and not responded to the reaction of the follower.”